Is there a middle ground on immigration? This Republican thinks so
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- Former Arizona state Sen. Bob Worsley got his start in politics pushing back against draconian anti-immigrant legislation
- With the border under much great control, he said it’s time to focus on the country’s workforce needs
Bob Worsley has solid conservative credentials. He’s anti abortion. A fiscal hawk and lifelong member of the Mormon Church. As an Arizona state senator, he won high marks from the National Rifle Assn.
These days, however, Worsley is an oddity, an exception, a Republican pushing back against the animating impulses of today’s MAGA-fied Republican Party.
Here’s how he speaks of immigrants — some of whom entered the United States illegally — and those who seek to demonize them.
“We have people that are aristocratically living in another world,” Worsley said. “Maybe they work for you, but you haven’t really lived with them and understand they’re not criminals. They are good people. They’re family people. They’re religious people. They are great Americans.... So I think that’s a problem if you don’t live with them and you’re making policy.”
If that line of reasoning is too mawkish and bleeding-heart for your taste, Worsley makes a more pragmatic argument for a generous, welcoming immigration policy, one unsentimentally rooted in cold dollars and cents.
“The Trump Organization needs workers, hospitality workers, construction workers,” Worsley said. “The horse-breeding industry, the horse-racing industry, they need these people. The pig farmers, the chicken farmers.”
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Worsley owns a Phoenix-based modular housing firm and is chairman of the American Business Immigration Coalition, an organization representing more than 1,700 chief executives and business owners nationwide. Their exceedingly ambitious goal: to find compromise and a middle ground on one of the most contentious and insoluble issues of recent decades — and to bring some balance to a Trump policy that is almost wholly punitive in its nature and intent.
“We are employers ... and we don’t have a workforce. We need this workforce,” Worsley said. “And building a wall and stopping all immigration is not going to work, because the water will rise until it comes over.”
A serial entrepreneur before he entered politics, Worsley doesn’t favor throwing the U.S.-Mexico border open to all comers. The “lines between countries” should mean something, he said. But now that America’s borders have been practically sealed shut, fulfilling one of President Trump’s major campaign promises, Worsley suggests it’s past time to address another part of the immigration equation.
“What we need is bigger portals, bigger legal openings to come through the border,” Worsley said, likening it to the way a spillway releases pressure behind a dam. “We need a secure workforce as much as we need a secure border.”
The immigration issue was Worsley’s impetus to enter politics. Or, more specifically, the scapegoating and vilification of immigrants that prefigured Trump and his “poisoning the blood of our country” Sturm und Drang.
Worsley, whose ventures included founding the SkyMall catalog — a pre-Amazon everything store — was coaxed into running to thwart the return of former Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, who was recalled by voters in part for his fiercely anti-immigrant lawmaking. (Worsley beat him in the 2012 GOP primary, then won the general election.)
As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Worsley did his youth missionary work in Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil. “I developed a certain level of comfort and love for the people down there,” Worsley said.
Moreover, the experience colored his perspective on those impoverished souls who traverse borders in search of a better life. A person can’t empathize “unless you’ve actually walked in their shoes, lived in their homes, eaten their food and socialized with them,” Worsley said via Zoom from his home office in Salt Lake City. “And I think that’s a problem.”
He left the Arizona Senate — and electoral politics — in 2019, vexed and frustrated by the rise of Trump and the anti-immigrant wave he rode to his first, improbable election to the White House.
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“It was really irritating because I had fought this in Arizona a decade before,” Worsley said. “And so to have this kind of comeback on a national stage was incredibly frustrating.”
He moved part time to Utah, to be closer to his extended family. He wrote a book, “The Horseshoe Virus,” about the immigration issue; the title suggested the convergence of the far left and far right in the country’s long history of anti-immigrant movements.
He became involved with the American Business Immigration Coalition, recruited by Mitt Romney, the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee, whom Worsley knew through politics and a mutual friendship with Arizona’s late senator, John McCain. Worsley became the board’s chairman in January.
He’s still no fan of Trump, though Worsley emphasized, “I am still a Republican and would vote for a Mitt Romney or John McCain kind of Republican.”
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That said, now that the border is under much tighter control, Worsley hopes Trump will not just seek to round up and punish those in the country illegally but also focus on a larger fix to the nation’s dysfunctional immigration system — something no president, Democrat or Republican, has accomplished in nearly 40 years.
It was 1986 when Ronald Reagan signed sweeping legislation that offered amnesty to millions of long-term residents, expanded certain visa programs, cracked down on employers who hired illegal workers and promised to harden the border once and for all through stiffer enforcement — a pledge that, obviously, came to naught.
“Once you’ve secured the border and you don’t have caravans of people coming toward us, then you can address [the question of] what’s the pragmatic solution so that this doesn’t happen again?” Worsley asked. “We’re hopeful that’s where we’re going next.”
It’s long overdue.
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Ideas expressed in the piece
- Bob Worsley argues that immigrants, including some who entered illegally, are integral to the U.S. workforce and economy, emphasizing their roles in industries like hospitality, construction, agriculture, and manufacturing[2][3]. He advocates for expanding legal pathways to address labor shortages, stating, “We need bigger portals, bigger legal openings to come through the border” to relieve economic pressure[3].
- He stresses compassion and understanding, noting that many immigrants are family-oriented, religious, and contribute positively to communities. His perspective is shaped by missionary work in Latin America and firsthand interactions with immigrant communities[2].
- Worsley supports a dual approach: securing borders first, then reforming immigration systems to provide work permits, green cards for spouses of U.S. citizens, and citizenship for Dreamers. He claims this balance would curb illegal crossings while meeting economic needs[1][3].
Different views on the topic
- Critics, including Trump-aligned Republicans, prioritize strict border enforcement and mass deportation policies, dismissing compromises as undermining national security. They argue that expanding legal immigration could incentivize future illegal crossings and depress wages for American workers[4].
- Opponents reject Worsley’s economic pragmatism, framing immigration as a cultural and security threat. Trump’s rhetoric, such as claims that immigrants “poison the blood of our country,” reflects this hardline stance, which dominated GOP strategy during his presidency[4].
- Some conservatives dismiss Worsley’s middle-ground proposals as unrealistic, citing the 1986 Reagan-era reforms’ failure to permanently resolve immigration issues. They advocate for purely enforcement-focused measures, such as expanding detention facilities and accelerating deportations[4].
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